Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Big sports day today. The world's longest Tennis match and a big win for the U.S.A. soccer team to win their pool at the World Cup. But since I am equal parts don't know enough about it (not that that's stopped me before) and don't really care, I'm going to take a pass on writing about either of those things.

Instead, we're going to go with the first ever DWG Mailbag. Thanks for writing, those of you who did.

Q. Which incoming Gopher basketball freshman are you most excited about? And what's a reasonable expectation for the upcoming season? I was unbelievably excited about last year until the debacle, but I'm actually getting pretty excited for this year as well. I think we have the chance to be better than people give us credit for.

- James M.

A. None of the above? Really, this is an incredibly underwhelming class. You have a throw-in point guard with a cool name, a skinny white foreigner who might not even be eligible, a skinny shooter with a high basketball IQ who might have to redshirt, and a string bean prairie white boy center with chicken legs who might have to redshirt to go along with Mo Walker. Since Walker is the only top-100 type, and maybe the only top-200 type, I'd go with him. If you want a less obvious answer, I'll say Austin Hollins (the skinny shooter with a high IQ referenced above). Shooting and a high IQ are good traits for a sleeper recruit to have, and a skinny kid can always grow into his body (Tayshaun Prince excepted).

As far as next year goes, if Mbakwe plays and guys like Rodney, Devoe, and Ralph continue to develop I could see a Sweet 16 run, but more likely they'll end up with a lower-upper division finish in conference and around a 6-7 seed. If Trevor doesn't end up playing and everybody stagnates, you're probably looking at an NIT bid.

Q. What do you see as the pros/cons of the Twins going out and acquiring Cliff Lee? & are you as baffled/outraged as I am that the Twins allegedly have interest in guys who have been designated for assignment by crappy teams like Pittsburgh and (not as crappy) Toronto (Encarnacion from Tor & some other reliever guy for Pittsburgh)?

- Andrew W.

A. The pros of acquiring Lee are that you have an established, proven, shut-down pitcher who always gives you a chance to win and is capable of essentially winning a game all by himself. Not to mention an outstanding 1-2 punch at the front of the rotation, which can be all you need in the playoffs.

The cons would depend on what you gave up. I highly doubt they'd be able to or even interested in signing Lee, so you're essentially paying for his services for a few months. Additionally, every contender is going to be after him, so that price might get driven up pretty high. The real worry is if they make the trade, don't advance beyond the first round, and then one or more of the traded pieces develop into a star.

Even so, I'm still advocating a Slowey/Ramos/third prospect offer. Slowey is the kind of pitcher the Twins' minor-leagues are riddled with, so there should be no real issue with trading him. He throws strikes and has below average stuff. They have 10 more of these guys ready at AAA. Ramos is obviously the center piece of the deal, and I'm not saying they should be jumping at the chance to get rid of him, but it's obvious catcher here is taken care of for a while, and they need to use this chip before the shine wears off. Even if Ramos turns into an all-star, if Lee gets the Twins to the World Series it's worth it.

Also I am pretty sure there is no way they will have the balls to make this trade. They will be too afraid to "mortgage their future" and instead will continue with the routine of making the playoffs and getting bounced by the Yankees. Lame.

And I don't know anything about the Pirate reliever, but as far as 3B goes I'm just fine with the Twins exploring any and all possibilities to fill that hole, even if it means looking at the Blue Jays' castoffs or 93-year old Mike Lowell.

Q. I’ve caught hints in a couple of posts that you watched LOST. I’d be curious to know what you thought of the final season/finale and the series as a whole.

- John R.

A. Faithful watcher of Lost since episode 1 here. The show kind of lost it's way, but it veered pretty hard from what I thought I was getting myself into in the first place. I was expecting a "stranded on an island with monsters and shit" and instead got something essentially out of the Twilight Zone. Not that I'm complaining.

One of the best TV moments I can remember watching ever (EVER) was the first flash-forward episode in the season finale of I think season 4. An absolute, knock-you-on-your-ass-holy-shit-no-way moment if ever there was one. Or the opening to season 3, where The Others are sitting around, living a normal life and you think it's a flashback. Nope, it's in real time, and the plane just crashed. Awesome, awesome tv. Right up until they started in on the Time Travel, this was the best show I've ever seen.

It was still good, just not great, and I was looking forward to the finale and have mixed feelings about it. The island stuff was solid, giving you a nice wrap-up to the whole thing, and although they didn't answer all the questions, they answered enough for me. The sideways world thing I think they could have done without, and if the final season focused on the island, and solely the island, I think it would have been stronger. That being said, I also understand the need to finish with a big emotional payoff, giving you a happy ending for the characters you watched for the last 6 six years, and it did that.

Overall, I was luke-warm on the finale at first, but I've warmed up to it. I would still strongly recommend the series to anybody who hasn't seen it, just know that after being blown away for four seasons, you just kind of coast to the end.

Out of the crap in tier 4, it's tough to pick a favorite. Malibu Shark Attack will always have a soft spot in my heart for the worst science out of all of these (not counting Jaws 4). Raging Sharks had Vanessa Angel, which is good, but also had some sort of alien crystals which caused sharks to attack humans, which was very, very bad. And who could forget one of the Baldwins in Sharks in Venice?

But the best for pure campiness would have to be Shark Attack 3: Megalodon. Just go ahead and click on that link, and if you don't want to read the whole thing just watch the Youtube clip at the end. Totally awesome.

And by the way, I really want to see Red Water again, a movie about a bull shark in a freshwater river starring Kristy Swanson and Mr. Belding (and Coolio). I watched it when it first came out in 2003 and haven't seen it since, and it never seems to be on TV. If you ever see that it's going to be on, please please please let me know.

And that's that. Thanks for the mailings, folks, it was fun. Feel free to go ahead and email at anytime if you have questions you'd like answered. I can't say the amount of mailings was anywhere near enough to make this a regular thing, but still, go ahead and email anytime, and I'll get back to you (on here, probably). Or, if I get enough again, the second ever DWG mailbag.